A Comparison of two poems for different cultures

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Introduction

A Comparison of two poems for different cultures I have read two poems "Nothing's Changed" by Tatamkhulu Afrika and "Two Scavengers in a truck, two beautiful people in a Mercedes" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Both poets have very different styles of writing and views on how people form other cultures are treated. I will be comparing the two poems to find similarities and difference between them. "Nothing's changed" The poem "Nothing's changed" is about a man who returns to the wasteland that was once his home and relives the anger he felt when the area was first destroyed. The poem is a protest against a racially divided society. The man feels angry that the town has a new exclusive "white's only" restaurant that has a "guard at the gatepost" but still there is poverty around it, in the near by working men's caf� people have to eat without plates and off a plastic tabletop Despite the changing political situation there are still huge inequalities between the black and white people. ...read more.

Middle

is saddened to find out "nothing's changed" he feels a deep anger that makes him want to destroy the restaurant "hands burn for a stone, a bomb, to shiver down the glass." This is also metaphorically, means he wishes to "shiver down" the barriers between the black and white people. I think the poet wrote this poem because he was angry that nothing had really changed since he had lasted visited; there is the same racial divide in South Africa, even thought changes have supposed to have taken place, the poet still feels that it is a place that's "white's only". I think the poet also fells white people are treated better; this is clear in the poem as the "white people's restaurant" is stylish and exclusive with a guard at the guard-post. While in the "black people's restaurant" people eat from a plastic tabletop. This makes the poet reflect on the fact that there are huge inequalities between the black and white people, I also think the poem reminds us of the importance of the lower class. ...read more.

Conclusion

The poet goes on to portray the garbage men as "grungy" which is true when compared to the couple who are very neatly dressed and had probably only just set out on their journey unlike the men who have been "up since four a.m.". The poet then talks about the garbage men looking down at the couple in the Mercedes as if "they were watching some odourless TV ad" showing that the garbage men see the wealthy couple as "unreal" something that could only be seen on television, a lifestyle that they couldn't achieve. In line 25 the poet stats that the younger of the two garbage men is about the "same age as the Mercedes driver" I think this shows how the two men are the same similar, the only difference being the Mercedes and the clothes. In the final stanza all four individuals are held together "for an instant" at the red traffic light, this being the only time rich and poor are equal. "As if anything at all were possible" for the two garbage men, and where "everything is always possible" for the young couple in the Mercedes, just before they go off to very different destinations. ...read more.

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